Improved washing-machine



UNITED STATES PATENT OEEiicEG WILLIAM GOWEN, 0F WAUSAU, WISCONSIN.

IMPROVED WASHING-MACHINE.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. 56,744, dated July 31,1866.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM GOWEN, of Wausau, in the county of Marathon and State of Wisconsin, have invented a new and Improved Clothes Washing Machine; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full,

clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable those skilled in the art to make and use the saine, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specication, in which- Figure l is a vertical central section of my invention 5 Fig. 2, a plan or top view of the saine; Fig. 3, an under view ofthe rubber pertaining to the saine.

Similar "letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

This invention relates to a new and improved clothes-washing machine of that class in which a horizontal partially-rotating rubber is used within a tub. e,

The invention consists in a novel manner of securing the cross-bar which supports the rubber-shaft in the tub, whereby said bar may be readily adjusted in and detached from the tub, so that there will be no difficulty in removing the rubber whenever required.

The invention also consists in a peculiar way of arranging the cleats on the rubber and on the bottom of the tub, as hereinafter fully shown and described, whereby the clothes are operated upon in a very efficient manner.

A represents a wash-tub, which may be of the ordinary construction and form, and having cleats a attached to its bottom b; and B is a rubber of circular form, and of such diameter that it may be fitted on the bottom b and be freely turned first in one direction and then in the other. The under side of the rubber B has cleats c attached to it, arranged as shown in Fig. 3. rDhere are main cleats l, which extend from near the center of the rubber to its edge, and have nearly a radial position. while cleats 2 extend from the cleats l to the edge of the rubber, and are parallel with each other and with the cleat l next adjoining, as clearly shown in`Fig. 3. The cleats (t on the bottom of the tub are arranged in precisely the saine way as those on the rubber. The rubber B has a stem or shaft, C, attached to it, and this stein or shaft passes through a cross-bar, D, which serves as a bearing for it.

The cross-bar D has itsv ends fitted in metallic sockets d attached to the inner side of the tub, and in said cross-bar there are tted two rods, e e, which are allowed to slide longitudinally, and have spiral springs f bearing against their inner ends, which springs have a tendency to keep the outer ends of the rods e forced outward a trie beyond the ends of the cross-bar andinto holes in the sockets, as shown in Fig. l.

The rods e e have each a pin, g, passing through them and through oblong slots in the cross-bar. These pins are for the purpose of enabling the rods e e to be shoved out from the holes in the sockets d when the cross-bar and rubber are to be removed from the tub.

The upper end of the stem or shaft O has a crosslever, E, upon it, provided with two handles, h h.

By this arrangement it Will be seen that the rubber and cross-bar may be readily removed from and adjusted to the tub. This is an essential feature, for the rubber must be removed when clothes are placed into and taken out of the tub, and also when the tub and rubber require cleaning.

By having the cleats on the rubber and on the bottom of the tub arranged as shown the clothes are acted upon in a very favorable or efficient manner, the water being made to escape from between the rubber and bottom as it is passed through the texture of the clothes, so that the latter will receive the full benefit of the pressure of rubber B, which the operator presses down upon While turning it irst in one direction and then in the other.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The washing-machine constructed, as herein described, with cross-bar D, sliding rods e e, sockets d, springs f, shaft G, and rubbers B b, all combined and arranged to operate substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

WILLIAM GrOWEN.

Witnesses:

ELI R. GHAsE, i J. A. FARNHAM. 

